"This was really an opportunity for us to talk to customers in a different way from traditional advertising," said Charlene Bailey, Purdue Pharma's director of product management. "TV talks at customers, and we wanted to talk to them."

The campaign used newspaper advertising to direct consumers

to www.GetConstipationRelief.com, where they could enter the sweepstakes, share their experiences with digestive problems and find information, Bailey said.

"We wanted people to get it out of the closet and get the relief they need," she said. "We want them to know they don't need to be alone."

Privately held Purdue Pharma, which was founded in 1892 by New York City doctors John Purdue Gray and George Frederick Bingham, also manufactures prescription pain killers Dilaudid, Oxycontin and Ryzolt, and asthma reliever Uniphyl, and surgical antiseptic Betadine.

The company employs 565 workers at its Stamford headquarters and another 785 workers at a research facility in Cranbury, N.J., and manufacturing sites in Totowa, N.J., and Wilson, N.C.

Sweepstakes can be an effective marketing tool for the simple fact that they give people a chance to win a prize, said Gerald Cavallo, a marketing professor at Fairfield University.

"That's why people buy lottery tickets and go to casinos," he said. "This seems to have worked for Purdue Pharma."